


Homecoming

by aeon_entwined



Series: Love and Loss [1]
Category: War Horse (2011)
Genre: Character Death Fix, M/M, Reunions
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2012-01-21
Updated: 2012-01-21
Packaged: 2017-10-29 21:22:51
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 843
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/324301
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/aeon_entwined/pseuds/aeon_entwined
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>After sitting in his modest isolated cottage for almost a month, Jamie can no longer stand it.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Homecoming

**Author's Note:**

> Written for [black-nata](http://black-nata.tumblr.com/) over on Tumblr!

After sitting in his modest isolated cottage for almost a month, Jamie can no longer stand it.

He’s alive. The war is over. And despite having been subjected to some of the German army’s more _creative_ methods of persuasion, he survived. The nightmares are frequent, however, and often wake him out of a dead sleep with the sheets soaked in sweat.

But all that he can cope with. All soldiers have to. It’s something you need to be ready for the second you enlist.

What he can’t stand is waking up every morning to an empty bed, getting up and going about his day as if the one person he’d come to rely upon entirely is gone.

He and Jim Nicholls had met just prior to the war; both enlisted men looking to try and make nice with other potential officers before everything went to hell. The man’s utterly honest and painfully charming demeanor had set him on edge at first, making him suspicious of Nicholls having ulterior motives. Unfortunately (or fortunately, depending on who you ask), as it had turned out, the man really was just as generous and giving of his time and himself as he had seemed at the start.

Then, once training began and they started their rise amongst the ranks, the near earth-shattering realization that their camaraderie extended beyond mere friendship shook them both. It was terrifying and exhilarating, once they finally admitted the truth to one another.

Secrecy was essential, and they could not risk being discovered together. So, they met on leave and when time simply wouldn’t allow them any other options while on duty.

Jamie recalls particularly memorable encounters with his Jim; rough tumbles on thin mattresses and sometimes mere floorboards with a blanket thrown across to muffle any potential sounds that might alert the neighbors.

 _His_ Jim.

They both share ( _shared_ ) the same name, so it was imperative that they differentiate somehow. Being about three years Jim’s senior, Jamie remembers turning his nose up after a drill session and declaring that Jim would henceforth be known as that: Jim. Nicholls had opened his mouth to protest, but instead closed it and smirked.

“Only if you get to be _Jamie_ ,” he’d said, and oh _god_ how Jamie misses his voice.

His voice, his eyes, his beautiful hands, his stunning lips … everything.

He’d never even gotten a chance to tell Jim that there was a cottage far out in the English countryside just waiting for them to finish up with the thrice-damned war. Jamie had bought it with some leftover money from his parents’ estate, knowing that despite the potential dangers of being discovered, it would be isolated and peaceful; exactly what he wanted for Jim.

Jamie covers his face with both hands as he leans against the doorframe, silently willing to tears to stop before they get a chance to fall.

He’s done enough weeping. Four weeks of it since he was rescued from the Germans and told that Jim had died in the charge.

Shedding tears won’t change his fate. It won’t bring him back.

The former major scrubs both hands over his face, then freezes as he looks up. There’s a figure striding down the lane towards the cottage; tall, lanky, unmistakably male.

The figure has a cane and is leaning on it rather heavily; a painful limp evident in his left leg. _Who on earth could possibly be wandering out here?_

As it turns out, he doesn’t need to wonder that for long because as soon as the figure comes near enough, the profile leaves absolutely no doubt in Jamie’s mind for who has happened upon his secluded home.

“ _JIM!_ ” he nearly bellows, pushing off the doorframe and sprinting down the lane, unable to reign himself in until he reaches the man.

“They told me you were dead,” he manages, reaching out to grip Jim’s shoulders, unable to tear his eyes from the man’s face. “They told me you were _dead_ , oh _god-_ “

Jamie buries his face against Jim’s neck, shuddering out a painfully choked sob as he clutches the man’s overcoat and refuses to let go. He can hear Jim’s unbearably familiar laugh somewhere in the vicinity of his temple. It’s a laugh that sounds like it should be coming from someone decades older than his Jim, but he isn’t going to complain. Not now.

When he finally manages to compose himself, Jamie pulls back, frames Jim’s face in his hands, then carefully pulls the man into a searing kiss.

It feels like every one of his nerves is suddenly alight, unable to process anything except how much he has missed this. He forces them apart before he can lose himself completely, but he keeps Jim’s face in his hands.

“Come inside?” he asks hoarsely, knowing he must look a right mess.

Jim smiles at him, and Jamie nearly chokes on another sob because the man is _so beautiful_ when he smiles. “Yes,” Jim murmurs, reaching out to grip Jamie’s arm instead of his cane. “Yes, I’d like that very much.”


End file.
